H EADLINES
JFNA Head Advocates
for Security
NATIONAL SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
“It’s really been a boon to our
area,” Schatz said.

Schatz secured two grants for
the Jewish Federation in past
years, and increased funding of
the program would allow the
organization to apply funds
from future grants to expanding
security measures elsewhere.

Generally, the allocations fund
jobs for security guards, instal-
lation of security cameras and
other security infrastructures.

According to Shira Goodman,
regional director of Anti-
Defamation League Philadelphia,
though 2020 saw a small dip in
local antisemitism, Philadelphia,
Montgomery and Delaware
counties remain the state’s
antisemitism hotbeds.

“We have seen people who are
motivated by hate emboldened
in recent years,” Goodman said.

Along with the national grant
program, Pennsylvania organi-
zations can apply to a similar
state-based grant program
through the Pennsylvania
Commission on Crime and
Delinquency. Because these
programs fund primarily faith-
based organizations, advocacy
from the Jewish community to
increase program funding is a way
to stand in solidarity with other
religious communities.

“It’s a good opportunity for
us all to realize the things that
unite us rather than divide us,”
Goodman said. “It’s important
both for offi cial lobbyists, but also
people on the ground who are
working with those communities,
to keep building those ties.”
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt
was among the other faith-based
leaders who testifi ed on far-right
extremism. Both Fingerhut
and Greenblatt expressed their
support for the Pray Safe Act, a
bipartisan bill that would provide
additional resources for faith-
based organizations. ●
ERIC FINGERHUT, president
and CEO of the Jewish Federations
of North America, testifi ed to
the Senate Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs
Committee on Aug. 3 as part of
a hearing on the prevalence of
“racially, ethnically, religiously
and politically motivated”
terrorist and extremist attacks.

Fingerhut’s testimony
primarily focused on the
demand to increase the budget
of the Nonprofi t Security Grant
Program, which provides funds to
organizations looking to enhance
security measures for commu-
nities oft en targeted by violent
extremism or domestic terrorism.

“Security has always been
a core concern of Jewish
Federations,” Fingerhut said.

“We know that the ability and
the confi dence of our commu-
nity to participate fully in
Jewish religious and cultural life
depends on feeling safe.”
Spurred by 9/11 and created
in 2004 through the Department
of Homeland Security, NSGP
funds between 140 and 1,500
organizations, with annual
expenditures of $35 million, small
by federal standards, according
to Fingerhut. Th ough this year’s
budget ballooned to $180 million,
the program still couldn’t accom-
modate many applicants.

Jewish organizations are the
primary grant recipients, with
$115 million out of this year’s
$180 million allocated to Jewish
organizations nationally.

Since the program’s inception,
organizations in the Philadelphia
area have received more than
$2 million in grants, according
to Robin Schatz, director of
Govenment Aff airs for the Jewish
Community Relations Council of
the Jewish Federation. Th is year,
four Philadelphia organizations srogelberg@jewishexponent.com;
received grants totaling $413,389. 215-832-0741
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AUGUST 12, 2021
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